The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1887-03-26
A CURIOUS STORY.
PomPcy tn" Elephant Avenges the MUIR
der of Old Man rhnmpson,s Daughter.

which had route through Ohio,
Indiana. and Kentucky. Among the
six elephants in the menagerie was one
named Pompey. and his mahout or
keeper was an old man named Andrew
Thompson. He had been In the show
business all his life. and for the last fif-
teen years had been accompanied by
his daughter, who was down ON the
bills as 'Mlle. Josie Picard. the wonder
ful equestrienne The old man was n
widower. you understand. and tell you
he was one of the kindest and best
fathers to Josie. which was her right
name. She was. at the time am writ
ing of. about 20 years of age. handsome.
vivacious. we'll educated. and beloved
by all. During the winters she attend
ed seminary in the east and had
many friends in good society. Every
summer she had score of would be
lovers following her about. some be-
longing to the show and some outside
of IL. but that was the one touchy point
with old Thompson. He had been
father and mother and brother and sis
ter 10 that girl. and the idea OF any COM
mon fellow trying 10 shine around her
put his nose out of joint at once. He
felt that she was worthy of the best man
in the land. even II she did wear tights
and spangles a part of the year. What
her ideas ON the subject of matrimony
were do not know. She was a born
lady in her demeanor. kind hearted,
gentle aud obedient, and every one OF
seconded by Pompev. The great beast
was such a friend OF hers that the father
was actually jealous about it There
II. a
him visit and she never approached
that he did not evince his great pleasure
in dozen ways.
One of our tumblers and acrobats
that season was a Young fellow named
Campi. | remember he was down on
the bills as "Mons. Camyi." or .'Signor
Campi." and think he was AN Italian.
He was a good-looking, daring young
fellow of %. and we were no sooner on
the road than he fell in love with Josie.
She. perhaps, accepted it as matter oi
course. neither sighting nor eneourag-
ing him, but when old Thompson came
to know about il he called the young
fellow aside and said:
See here. Campi. l want TO tell YOU
right now that my daughter will never
marry in the profession.
''ls she, then, so much superior to all
othersp' was the sneering inquiry.
That is not the question. | have INV
plans in regard to her. and it is useless
for you to nurse your love. Be n man
of sense and let it stop at friendship"
Il love Josie, and | hope to make her
my wife"
You never can"
"rhen it shall not be my fault"
This interview had taken place in the
presence of Pompey. and it might have
lasted longer but for him. He may moi
have conceived an aversion for Campi,
though elephants have their likes and
dislikes at first sight. the same as peo-
pie, but the young mans tones were
threatening. and Pompey closed the in-
terview by rushing at hlm with a
scream. Ii was a morrow escape for
Campi. The terrible trunk made q
vicious sweep at him, and If he had not
been an acrobat and had seconds
warning ii would have been all day
with him. He beat a hasty retreat.
muttering threats of vengeance. and for
a time the affair was ended. He ceased
his attentions To Josie. avoiding her as
much as possible. and prudence re-
strained MIN from approaching Pompey.
The beast was continually on the watch
for him. seeming TO nurse his wrath,
and thus matters went on for about -four
weeks
We were showing at Bloomington,
Indiana Half an hour before the eve
ming performance opened circumstances
favored Campi bv giving him an op-
portunity for a conversation with Josie
at the door of the dressing room. He
poured out his protestations of love and
reverence, vowed that life without her
would not be worth living another hour,
and besought her to elope with him.
She repulsed him with firm tones. and
in his passion he drew n knife and stab
bed her to the heart and fed. There
was an accidental listener to the words,
and the same person also saw the blow
struck. You may believe there was the
greatest excitement as the news spread
among us. When Thompson was told
of it he came and raised the dead body
OF the girl in his arms and kissed the
/ fast-paling cheeks Then he asked fol
some garment belonging to Campi. and
as he received il he returned to Pompey,
unclaimed him. and the two went forth
into the night
The body of the girl had not grown
cold when all the facts were given to tn,
police. who scattered in every direction
in hopes of securing the murderer Fill
ed with jealousy and hate. Campi wa,
half crazy. He fled into the country
and only the mahout and Pompey look
4 ed for him there. The mahout on a run
and the elephant swiftly lifting hit
/ great feet and carrying the tip of hi
trunk close to the ground, tine two push
/ ed on through the darkness and present
iy Pompey screamed out in anger. III,
bad got the scent of the fleeing man
aud he increased his pace. Half mil,
further on he swerved aside, knocked
/ down a couple of rods of board fence
and entered a broad field. Half way
/ across it was a shade tree-a maple
with a trunk foot thick. In the branch
es was Campi. He had heard the
sounds of pursuit on the road and had
turned aside to seek safety. Safety from
/ father who had been rendered child
less by his hand, and from an elephan
WHO had nursed his wrath for a month
The great beast flung high his trunk
4 and stripped the branches down, bu
+ Campi climbed higher. Then the trunl
/ was curled around the body of the tree
/ and the Goliath braced himself anC
/ shook it until no living creature coulo
j have clung to its top. Campi came fly
ing down, shrieking with terror and des
/ pair as he descended, and the next mo
ment Pompey had him. He raised hin
aioft and whipped the body against tire,
and earth until we who saw It an hou
later beheld such a shocking spectacl,